Part of the firm’s comprehensive outsourced patient identity management suite, Repair leverages Just Associates’ highly trained staff and proprietary IDMaster® Duplicate Workflow Software for cost-effective ongoing management of the duplicate validation and reconciliation process. Jefferson Radiology will rely on Repair to maintain the integrity of its patient database, which contains approximately 750,000 records as well as an additional 26,000 referring provider entries.

“Data integrity is Just Associate’s core business. As such, we are confident they have the expertise to deploy effective record-matching, duplicate elimination and audit processes to ensure the integrity of our patient database,” said Michael Quinn, CTO, Jefferson Radiology. “Repair also eliminates the need for us to dedicate internal resources, which are better utilized elsewhere, to the complex task of reconciling duplicate patient records.”

Based in East Hartford, Conn., Jefferson Radiology is the largest radiology private practice group in Connecticut and includes 10 private offices and affiliations with seven regional hospitals. Its fellowship-trained physicians are supported by a sophisticated business and technological infrastructure and offer the full spectrum of diagnostic imaging and interventional services. This includes cardiovascular, neuroradiology, oncology, pediatric, orthopedic imaging and women’s services.

A recognized leader in health information data integrity and management, Just Associates, Inc. (www.justassociates.com) is a healthcare data integration consulting firm that delivers superior value to its clients through improved data integrity. Just Associates has the process expertise and systems knowledge to deliver tailored, value-added solutions that improve clients’ financial outcomes and business processes, support delivery of quality patient care, and meet the expectations of diverse stakeholders through improved data integrity.

“Just Associates was instrumental in ensuring the integrity of patient data in our MPI and all downstream systems. That experience and their familiarity with PIH Health’s systems made the decision to turn ongoing MPI maintenance over to them an easy one,” said Lois Miller, RHIA, director of health information management, PIH Health. “Not only will Repair ensure rapid elimination of any new duplicates, but its business intelligence tools and the expertise of the Just Associates team will allow us to target resources to ensure any weaknesses in training, workflows and processes are addressed.”

Utilizing Repair provides PIH Health with a number of significant benefits over internal MPI management, including:

An experienced team providing efficient duplicate validation and eradication seven days a week

Ongoing monitoring to prevent new duplicate records and other issues from negatively impacting data integrity

Elimination of backlogs, overflows and staffing challenges, such as turnover and leave time, that impact productivity levels

A more accurate count of unique patients to accelerate compliance with several key meaningful use criteria

“A duplicate-free MPI is crucial for an effective data integrity strategy,” said Beth Just, MBA, RHIA, FAHIMA, Just Associates’ CEO and president. “The power of Repair coupled with our data integrity experts will ensure that PIH Health’s clinicians have access to accurate patient information, which will help drive patient safety and quality care.”

About Just Associates, Inc.

A recognized leader in health information data integrity and management, Just Associates, Inc. (www.justassociates.com) is a healthcare data integration consulting firm that delivers superior value to its clients through improved data integrity. Just Associates has the process expertise and systems knowledge to deliver tailored, value-added solutions that improve clients’ financial outcomes and business processes, support delivery of quality patient care, and meet the expectations of diverse stakeholders through improved data integrity.

About PIH Health

PIH Health is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) regional healthcare delivery network that was founded in 1959 by volunteers who went door to door with coffee cans to raise funds to build a local healthcare facility. Over 50 years later, PIH Health has maintained that same sense of community and family-like culture where patients are the top priority, and employees and volunteers are proud to be affiliated with such an organization. PIH Health serves residents of LA and Orange Counties, as well as the San Gabriel Valley area, offering a wide range of services, including utilization of primary care teams to provide general medicine and preventative care, access to emergency and urgent care, home health services and hospice, and a network of over 180 specialists in accessible and welcoming neighborhood locations. PIH Health is committed to remaining at the forefront of healthcare advances, including technology, equipment and top-notch facilities and amenities to benefit patients and staff alike. Its highly trained and compassionate physicians, nurses, clinicians, staff and volunteers work tirelessly and collaboratively every day to be the communities’ health and wellness partner. Those who are interested in supporting PIH Health in carrying out its charitable purpose are invited to make an in-kind gift by visiting PIHHealth.org and clicking the “Donate Now” button or calling the PIH Health Foundation at 562.698.0811 Ext. 14120.

Specifically, the service optimizes Epic Identity’s out-of-the-box configurations to enhance system performance, increasing true duplicate identification and reducing false positive rates. Just Associates’ team of experienced data integrity specialists also provides guidance on how Epic users can more efficiently maintain the long-term accuracy of patient data within the MPI.

“Just Associates possesses an in-depth understand of Epic, which allows them to be innovative in their approach to improving data integrity by optimizing Epic Identity and helping us leverage other tools we already have,” said Mary Reeves, Administrative Director, Medical Information Services, Vanderbilt Medical Center.

Just Associates’ team of data management experts optimizes the performance of Epic Identity in the client environment, in part by:

Defining standard routines for patient searches and improving the accuracy with which the appropriate patient is located

Determining optimal high and low thresholds to reduce the number of false positive matches identified within the system

Utilizing demographic change reports to assist in early identification and correction of patient overlays

Building special work (error) queues to bucket different types of errors for efficient resolution

“For years, we have worked with Epic clients to more effectively manage their MPI and reduce the number of duplicates within their system. It is through these relationships that we have developed a keen understanding of Epic Identity and the many ways it can be used to effectively and efficiently improve data integrity,” said Just Associates CEO and President Beth Just, MBA, RHIA, FAHIMA. “Our Epic Identity Optimization service lets us show hospitals how to leverage existing MPI management tools to maximize the accuracy of their patient information for significantly improved clinical and administrative performance.”

Please join ADVANCE Healthcare and Just Associates at 1 p.m. ET on Oct. 23, 2012 for “Minimizing Duplicates Patients in Epic Identity,” a free webinar created specifically for Epic users. Presented by Karen Proffitt, RHIA, CHP, MS, the webinar will help attendees understand the causes and ramifications of “dirty” MPI data and share ways to optimize Epic Identity. Attendees will be automatically entered to win a free Epic Identity duplicate detection performance assessment. Click here for more information or to register.

About Just Associates, Inc.

A recognized leader in health information data integrity and management, Just Associates, Inc. (www.justassociates.com) is a healthcare data integration consulting firm that delivers superior value to its clients through improved data integrity. Just Associates has the process expertise and systems knowledge to deliver tailored, value-added solutions that improve clients’ financial outcomes and business processes, support delivery of quality patient care, and meet the expectations of diverse stakeholders through improved data integrity.

During the upcoming AHIMA conference, Just Associates will announce that Sharon Regional Medical Center in Pennsylvania will be using the consulting firm’s new Repair outsourced MPI maintenance service for managing its day-to-day duplicate record validation and reconciliation.

Just Associates is dedicated to meeting the data integrity needs of the health information exchange (HIE), health information management (HIM), health informatics and health IT markets. It is featuring Repair, along with its comprehensive outsourced MPI management service, in Booth #325 at the AHIMA Convention & Exhibit, taking place in Salt Lake City Oct. 1-6, 2011.

Based in Sharon, Penn., Sharon Regional Health System is a comprehensive health system consisting of a 241-bed hospital, 17 satellite centers and more than 1,750 employees. It first utilized Just Associates to conduct a comprehensive MPI cleanup in preparation for its May 2012 electronic health record (EHR) system implementation. But while existing issues were eliminated, Sharon Regional still faced a problem common among many hospitals — a lack of resources to maintain a clean MPI.

In fact, a typical hospital has between 3 percent and 15 percent patient record duplication. Left unchecked, this creates serious patient safety issues, including delayed diagnosis or treatment and/or redundant diagnostic procedures when the correct or complete record cannot be located in a timely manner. It is also costly, with repetitive testing alone adding 20 percent to 30 percent to clinical costs.

“We needed a way to continuously identify and correct duplicates before they created confusion among our clinical staff or impacted care,” said Barb McKee, director of business office operations, Sharon Regional Health System. “However, multiple registration points made it difficult to pinpoint when and where potential errors entered the system and staffing limitations made it difficult to quickly evaluate and reconcile possible duplicates once they were identified. When we heard about Repair, we knew immediately it was the long-term solution we needed.”

By outsourcing its daily MPI maintenance to Just Associates, Sharon Regional benefits from a more efficient duplicate record resolution process. Repair also helps overcome the resource challenges that impact many hospitals’ efforts to attain and maintain a clean MPI, such as difficulty maintaining productivity levels due to staff turnover, planned and unplanned leave time, and insufficient training. Reports generated by Repair also help identify areas of weakness where additional education or process adjustments can help prevent duplicate creation at the front end.

“With Just Associates protecting the integrity of our patient data, we can focus our attention and resources on other areas to ensure our patients continue to receive the highest quality care possible,” said McKee.

In the case of Sharon Regional, daily feeds are generated by the facility’s third-party monitoring service. However, Repair works equally effectively with reports generated by systems that feature the robust analytics capabilities to accurately identify potential duplicate records.

“When the integrity of patient data is compromised due to duplicate, incomplete or inaccurate records, it can impact safety and quality, increase costs and decrease clinician and staff productivity. Unfortunately, the challenge for many facilities is dedicating the resources necessary to maintain a clean MPI,” said Just Associates CEO and President Beth Just, MBA, RHIA, FAHIMA. “That is why savvy hospitals like Sharon Regional are outsourcing MPI management to Just Associates. It is a cost-effective way to overcome staffing and resource issues to ensure that duplicate records are identified and eliminated before they cause problems.”

About Just Associates, Inc.

A recognized leader in health information data integrity and management, Just Associates, Inc. (www.justassociates.com) is a healthcare data integration consulting firm that delivers superior value to its clients through improved data integrity. Just Associates has the process expertise and systems knowledge to deliver tailored, value-added solutions that improve client’s financial outcomes and business processes, support delivery of quality patient care, and meet the expectations of diverse stakeholders through improved data integrity.